Looking Forward in 2013

(This is a preview of Sunday’s PopRox column in the Pocono Record. Feel free to hit the comments or the FB page to add what pop culture item you’re looking forward to in 2013.)

Last week was for the look back. This week is reserved to peek ahead to a bunch of pop culture happenings to look forward to in 2013:

danny mcbride playing danny mcbride is absolutely hysterical

June 14
There are only four movies I’m relay looking forward to in an already drab-looking summer season. Iron Man 3, The Wolverine and two that open on June 14 — This is the End and Man of Steel. This is the End wasn’t even on my radar until a couple weeks ago when the trailer premiered and made an instant push for induction to the Movie Trailer Hall of Fame. It’s the funniest movie I saw in 2012, and I only saw two minutes worth of a red band trailer. Man of Steel lands on the must-see list out of curiosity more than anything, seeing as I’ve already seen this movie TWICE before and watched Smallville, so, yeah, I know the Superman origin story. What, is Superman going to be a bad guy this time around or something? Is he going to have a third leg? What more can you tell me about how Superman became Superman? My lone faith in this movie is that Christopher Nolan, the writer/director of the Dark Knight trilogy, oversaw the production and has a writing credit on it.

The return of Arrested Development in the spring to Netflix
It almost feels like jinxing the whole thing to include this as definitely happening after what fans have gone through over the last few years. But we know for sure there is a deal with Netflix to air the fourth season of the show. We know for sure Netflix says it’s premiering this spring. We also know for sure much of it has been filmed already. It’s time, everyone. I now give you permission to be excited about the once seemingly impossible return of one of TV’s most inventive and funniest shows.

so it would seem feb. 7 is actually oct. 19

The end of a comedy era
When The Office, 30 Rock and Community are truly on their game, they’re three of the best sitcoms of the post-Seinfeld era. By Memorial Day, all three could be gone. We know 30 Rock (one-hour series finale Jan. 31) and The Office (one-hour season finale in May) aren’t coming back. Community (returns Feb. 7) is a prime candidate to be canceled since its ratings are some of the worst on TV and won’t get any better going up against The Big Bang Theory at 8 p.m. Thursdays. But let’s not murder the shows for what they’ve become, let’s remember the laughs all three of those shows gave us and cross our fingers that Parks and Recreation will stick around to see another season in September. At the same time, it officially ends the Must See TV sitcom lineup that NBC has been running since 1984 when The Cosby Show debuted and got paired with Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court. Simply throwing 1600 Penn, Go On and The New Normal onto the Thursday schedule doesn’t cut it.

Eminem’s new album (TBD)
His 2010 album Recovery wasn’t his best effort. For most artists, that’s a slight. But when you’re Eminem and you’ve churned out some of the best hip-hop albums ever made, it just means you need to step it up a bit on the next album to make sure to avoid the “Is Eminem Done?” headlines. I’m sure he’d just love answering those kinds of questions.

don't let us down, spike.

Old Boy remake, hits theaters Oct. 11
The 2005 Park Chan-wook opener of his revenge trilogy was the best, and now it’s coming to American audiences in what can only be a watered-down version of the original. Or can it? With Spike Lee directing a really good cast — Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Moss (Peggy on Mad Men), Samuel L. Jackson — we can at least hope it approaches the controlled chaos of Park’s version.

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Mike Sadowski

Because TV won't watch itself. Mike Sadowski is a reporter/blogger at the Pocono Record ('05-present). Email him anytime at Read Full